Reginald Alfred John James (1 June 1893 – 27 September 1944) was an Australian politician. He was a Country Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

from 1943 to 1944, representing the electorate of Bulla and Dalhousie. James was born in America, and lived his early years in

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peopl ...

. He served in

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France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with the 29th battalion, and returned after the war to his family's dairy farming and grazing property at

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

. He also later owned a chain of milk bars in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. James was well known in the dairy industry around Australia, and served as secretary and official advocate of the Milk Producers' Association from its inception until his death. He also served as editor of the Milk Producer publication, founder and honorary secretary of the Metropolitan Milk Council Free Milk Scheme, secretary of the Milk Standard Institute, president of the Gippsland United Progress Associations, and as a member of the council of the Victorian Chamber of Agriculture. James first attempted to enter politics at a 1929 by-election, when he contested the seat of Gippsland West as a

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

candidate. He ran what was widely touted as a strong campaign, but lost to Country Party candidate Matthew Bennett (politician), Matthew Bennett. He again contested the seat at the 1929 Victorian state election, 1929 state election, but lost to Bennett once more. James won election on his third attempt at the 1943 Victorian state election, 1943 state election, when as a Country Party candidate, he won the United Australia Party seat of Bulla and Dalhousie by a margin of 933 votes. His political career was to be short-lived, however, as he died suddenly in office on 27 September 1944. James had finished speaking to an electoral redistribution bill in parliament, left the chamber, and collapsed and died in the lobby of Parliament House before medical assistance could be rendered. He was cremated at Springvale Crematorium. He was succeeded at the subsequent by-election by Country Party Leslie Webster (Australian politician), Leslie Webster, who had served with James on the executive of the Milk Producers' Association. He was married with three children, one of whom was killed in a Royal Australian Air Force training accident in November 1942.

References

External links

Maiden speech

James' campaign advertisement from 1943 election
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Reginald Alfred John 1893 births 1944 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians